There are more than 7,000 languages spoken around the world. Some of
the most popular, such as Mandarin and Hindi, are spoken in countries
with huge populations, while others, including English and Spanish, are
widely spoken because of the colonial history of their original countries.

LANGUAGES

Global

MAJOR LANGUAGES

Most popularlanguagesAt one point in its history, the British Empirecovered almost one-third of the globe.

This is why today English is spoken inmore countries than any otherlanguage. Other former empiresinclude Portugal, France and Spain, and theirlanguages are spoken around the world, whileArabic dominates nations in northern Africaand the Middle East.

Writing systemsWritten languages use a system of symbols torepresent various letters, groups of letters, soundsor even entire words. These symbols range fromsimple lines and shapes to complex illustrations.

Languages of Internet users (millions of users)

ENGLISH 800.6

CHINESE 649.4

SPANISH 222.4

ARABIC 135. 6

POR TUGUESE 121. 8

RUSSIAN 87. 5

GERMAN 81. 1

FRENCH 78. 9

MALAYSIAN 75.5JAPANESE 109. 6

Latinalphabet

Ελληνικο
αλφαβητο 日本語の漢字

English101countries

ArabicSpanishPortuguese11

This map shows whatthe major languageis in each country inthe world.

ArabicBengaliEnglishGermanFrenchHindiMandarin ChinesePortugueseRussianSpanishOther, such asItalian and Greek

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LANGUAGES OF THE INTERNET

The large number of internet users in North America, the UK andAustralasia means that English is by far the most common languageused to search the internet.

This is not just another atlas set! The Mapographica series uses maps,
infographics, and color images to present the world as it has never
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From the human-made world to the natural world, and from arts,
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the surprising facts and figures that are all around us.